Public Statements

STEM Jobs Act, H.R. 6429

Statement

The STEM Jobs Act would have ended the diversity lottery green card program and allocated as many as 55,000 green cards per year to eligible foreign graduates with advanced degrees from U.S. universities. The green cards would have been first made available to foreign graduates with doctorates, and then to foreign graduates with master's degrees.

There is bipartisan agreement on the need for STEM visas, and this bill would have been a meaningful and sensible step to promote the legal immigration that our country needs. I hear from business leaders in Indiana all the time about the constant demand for high-skilled workers in the STEM fields, such as our medical device industry. Through our state universities like Purdue, Hoosier taxpayers invest significant resources in educating the best and brightest students from other countries. Instead of sending them back overseas to become millionaires in their home countries, we should encourage them to use their talents to become millionaires here and contribute to the economic and cultural richness of America.

Failed to pass because did not meet the required 2/3: 257-158I voted Yea.